Side-tracked
by BlueberryFridge
Summary: If Ed and Al haven't listed Izumi Curtis as their potential alchemy mentor, whom would they choose and what difference would it make? Apparently, a LOT.


**TITLE:** Side-tracked

**GENRE: **Adventure

**RATING: **T

**SUMMARY:** If Ed and Al haven't listed Izumi Curtis as their potential alchemy mentor, whom would they choose and what difference would it make? Apparently, a LOT.

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**CHAPTER ONE**

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One thing that Havoc regretted guiltily regarding the 'war' in Ishval was that all its horrors had made Mustang quite the asshole for stealing the large proportion of women in Amestris. That man had lost his innocent ideals, the vicious meaning of becoming the dog of the military slapping him in the face when he had killed all those Ishvalans. Yet, the one good thing from all that was his maturity and then he was suddenly a lady-killer because of how he had been carrying himself.

Hence, all of the girls Havoc persisted with had dashed his little hopes far too many times, and that the one before him had him overly happy as they chatted over cups of caffeine.

Then, he almost choked on the substance at the next set of words that came out of her mouth. For his credit, she did not seem to notice as she catered with more words.

'_What_? Hold on. You just said a nine-year old could do _alchemy,'_ he spluttered disbelievingly.

His date sniffed from being interrupted but nonetheless she nodded, 'Well, yeah. I met this boy two years ago when I went with my father for automail fitting in Risembool – his friend insisted that "Rockbell makes the best automail." Anyway, back then I noticed there was this boy looking all serious over a book. I never really had anything to do but wait so I sort of just watched him. You could only imagine how my eyes just bugged out when there came a flash of blue light and then he was suddenly holding a tiny horse figure!'

The distant look in her eyes changed into an enthusiastic one. She barely _breathed_ throughout.

Havoc had no idea how he ought to respond to _that_. Once, he had tried to learn the workings of an array. His brain had almost combusted by ten minutes.

Having felt sceptical after a bout of past bitterness, he asked, 'How can you be so sure it wasn't a fluke?'

'I asked him to do it again,' she said simply.

'Huh. Kid must be a real genius,' Havoc shrugged as his company agreed. However, something nagged at the nook of his head. The military man in him reeled with the significance of a prodigy, especially now that he and his inner circle wanted to continue pushing Mustang to the top. As far as he knew, no one had any idea about this. Hughes never hinted anything of it, and that Intel man was always aware of everything that goes around in the military. He was supposed to be obnoxiously good at his job.

How come no one knew about this anyway?

He looked at Corrine, his date, to make sure he had not offended her by drifting away to his thoughts like that, but was relieved she wasn't. Apparently, she was the type who kept chattering off without any heed around her.

After another hour with her, Havoc had had to really leave. He finally realised he would not want to be around her and her ceaseless talking. It was no wonder she had accepted his offer out.

'Why does _he _get all the good ones?' He shook his head ruefully, reaching his pocket for a smoke. His thoughts whirled back to the boy. Tomorrow, he definitely would tell the colonel.

….

'Damn it, Al. How many times do I have to say it? I told you, you don't need to do all that,' Edward said through his teeth, his patience running thin. He took a deep breath to calm himself.

'You say that all the time, Ed, and for the last time, I. Don't. _Care_. I _know_ you shouldn't have lost your limbs. That transmutation was what _he _wanted. It wasn't equivalent!' The younger Elric uncharacteristically snarled. Though, Ed highly doubted that ire was directed at him.

Golden eyes raked his brother's form with white-hot intensity. Al was there: body, mind and soul. What had happened a few months prior was sort of a disguised blessing, even at a cost of losing his arm and leg. In fact, he still hated himself for dragging his brother along with his plan to bring their mum back to life.

Oh, if their former mentor had not forced his palms on the circle that day… Fuck, he just _knew_ he would have bound this brat's soul in one of those armours in the basement.

If anything, he thought he probably deserved it for even suggesting the plan with Al and flippantly dismissing his frantic words of caution.

'You're still blaming yourself on that, aren't you,' Al deadpanned as if reading his mind, but worry lines became apparent in his face.

'No.' His brother frowned at the straight-faced lie.

Before Al could utter any more reprimand, there came a firm tap on the door. They looked at each other in puzzlement. Edward shrugged. He thought the dichotomous sounds of his footsteps were still a bit new to him as he headed for the door, thinking it could be either or both of the Rockbells.

He did _not_ expect a man in a raincoat… and the raging rain outside. Guess he was too busy with the books earlier (and later his brother) to notice everything else.

'Could your name happen to be Elric?' the man enquired in a cool baritone.

'Yeah, and what is it to you?' he countered snidely. Who the hell visits in this batshit kind of weather? Behind him Al scolded him on his rudeness – while his tone suggested he was also wary – and ambled to his side.

'Please excuse my brother, sir,' he said politely.

'Quite all right. Sorry to intrude, but I received a word from one of my men about… a rumour going on around, and this letter,' he moved his hand to show an envelope and on it a familiar-looking script.

'One of our letters!' exclaimed Al a bit too giddily for Ed's taste. He scowled when Al asked in hopeful tone, 'Have you seen our dad?'

The man pulled down his hood and finally they could see his surprisingly striking features. Ed's curious gaze took in the shade of his hair and eyes; black had been quite an uncommon colour as far as he was concerned. The strange git shook his head in negation, giving Al a regretful smile.

'I'm afraid I was hoping to see him here, kid. By the way,' he pulled out a silver pocket watch that Ed recognized with a start, 'I'm Lieutenant Colonel Roy Mustang. But, you can call me Roy,'

'A state alchemist,' he breathed in awe but caught himself. 'Hey, wait. Does that rumour have to do with our father? The state wants him or something?' He rolled his eyes. 'Sorry, mister, you should leave since that bastard's not here, obviously… OW! Al! What the hell was that for?!'

'Brother, don't just send him off like that! There's a storm out there.' He turned to Mustang, flashing him a warm smile. 'Please, Mr Mustang, at least stay for the night. Would you like some tea?' The colonel gave him a strange look.

Mustang seemed reluctant for a moment but quickly made up his mind, offering a nod. 'Yes, if you don't mind. And regarding that rumour,' he turned to Edward, emphatically looking at his metal arm, 'I have reason to believe _now_ that the military would be more interested in you two.'

…

On a typical day, the sense of being rational would have been more impressed on Edward's thick skull by Alphonse. On the contrary, Edward could overtly see that the day before had not been a normal day when Mustang dropped the bomb.

Sleep evaded him as he clenched his jaw and fists, thinking about the colonel with hardly suppressed anger. How dare that fucking asshole come here in the first place! The thought of Al made him thin his lips. He wanted to yell at him. He had been fine with automail but that conscience of his was eating at him arduously more than ever when he had been handed an opportunity on a silver platter.

All of his mind's attention landed back to that wretched man. He had implied that they could take the state alchemy exam. He flat out declined, of course, not liking anything to do with the military. But lo and behold, his pain in the ass of a brother had other plans.

_'What the _hell_ do you think you're doing, Alphonse? Why would you –'_

_The slam of Al's teacup cut him off and he was met with a hard glower. '_That man,'_ he drawled with such contempt Ed had to shut up. 'He once mentioned state alchemists got unlimited access to federal libraries.' He looked at Mustang for confirmation which he received._

_Ed stared at him in disbelief. 'Oh no, Al, please don't tell me you're still stuck on that,' he groaned helplessly. Al's eyes, much like his own, bored holes at him with grim determination. _

_Ed closed his eyes and held his head in defeat. Al didn't have to say anything. Their spat about what to do with _his body_ was honestly getting old. 'Fine. But, don't you dare think I'd let you do that alone…'_

Bullshit, Ed thought. Al was only ten and him a year older. Who in their right mind would take a bunch of country kiddies seriously?

The notion of becoming a laughingstock took hit on his ego, and thus passing the stupid test was set to stone. It was at that moment he was struck by an epiphany.

Through the coverlet of nocturnal blackness within his room, he lifted his mismatched hands to his face to give them a moment of considering look. The 'gift' from the gate: one of the things Al was not aware about yet because he simply was not inclined to let him, at least not sooner.

He repositioned his arms to his sides and smirked cynically. Aunt Pinako had expressed her deep disgust towards 'those dogs of the military' and Edward had taken it to heart, somewhat. Allowing Al to be one of them left him highly uncomfortable, and then nauseously horrified when his mind's eyes took sight of his only family facing the wall in front of the firing squad for refusing a military directive.

He pressed the heels of his hands to his squeezing eyes and moaned. Damn that old man down the hill for putting that image in his head.

That night, he swore, the meaning being 'hissing obscenities' and 'promise' both, that he be the one between them to get that qualification.

'S'all that Colonel Bastard's fault,' He mumbled tiredly, closing his eyes. He curled on his side and revelled in the freshly washed cloth of his pillow. Guilt nipped lightly at him for his brother's effort to make their house as homely as possible, but then he never had the patience for day-to-day chores. He had wondered about the circles in his father's book before uttering his first word. He loved alchemy, and all the more when he had seen the shimmer in their mother's eyes at the sight of their transmutation for the first time.

Sleep came easily.

The next day, he and Al agreed to tell the Rockbells about their plans in Central. As expected, they were none too happy about the news. Though, the old woman surprisingly accepted their decision without fuss, unlike Winry. Her tearful whys and don'ts and pleases held both of them rooted to her side for what felt like hours as they clumsily whispered their words of comfort and promises.

'You're leaving tomorrow? Already?'

'Yeah. The exam is just a few months ahead, Winry. That's not exactly much time to prepare.'

She nodded sullenly, shooting Ed a half-heartedly threatening look. 'You better take care of my automail. Don't do anything reckless.' She received a snort and a grunted affirmative.

Seeing that everything had been settled, at least for the moment, both Elrics managed a regretful smile. 'We ought to head home now, Win. We promise to keep in touch.'

Ed sighed, mentally. _You're proving to be more troublesome every day, little bro_. It seemed their mentality had been switched after The Incident.

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**End of chapter one**

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**Author's note:**

You have reached the conclusion of the chapter – yeah, and that makes me very happy. :D (See? Look, an open-mouthed smile! xD)

I've been day-dreaming about this idea during one of my baths and it's left me wide-awake in an unholy hour once. The problem is that now I have written the first part, I was struck by another set of inspiration, which leads me to another predicament of actually _writing_ it. I accidentally fall asleep before **MON MONSIEUR LAPTOP** every now and then, see. So, I ask that you be patient about the next update, all right (assuming you still care about that at all)?

Thoughts? *wiggles brows* Tell me something I don't know by typing it in you-know-where beneath this. CB Thank you for reading! :DD


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